With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass

DECIDING a particular year when a scientific discovery or advance took place is often an arbitrary decision. Archimedes is said to have leapt from his bathtub and shouted “Eureka!” when he realised that the volume of any object, no matter how complicated, could be found by placing the object in water and measuring the volume of water it displaces.
But even that eureka moment is of dubious authenticity. It is rare for scientific research to advance in a glorious instant of revelation.
So when the journal Science named the HIV/AIDS drug lenacapavir as its “breakthrough of the year,” it shouldn’t be surprising that its story began far earlier.
Science has always been mixed up with money and power, but as a decorative facade for megayachts, it risks leaving reality behind altogether, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT


